Guido van der Werve: Nummer veertien, home. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.
College Hall, 1899. Wellesley College
“Like a Great Roman Ruin”: The College Hall Fire and Anne Whitney at 100
Guido van der Werve: Nummer veertien, home On View March 12–July 20, 2014 Joan Levine Freedman ’57 and Richard I. Freedman Gallery
On View March 17–July 20, 2014
Guido van der Werve’s most recent single channel film, Nummer veertien, home, is a multilayered film based on the structure of a classical requiem: three movements and 12 acts. The poetic film interweaves tales of Alexander the Great, van der Werve’s own personal narrative, and the life and death of Frédéric Chopin. When Chopin died in Paris, his sister vowed to fulfill the composer’s wish of bringing his heart back to his native land of Poland, and smuggled it from France to Warsaw for burial.
Co-curated by Jacqueline Marie Musacchio ’89, professor and chair of the Art Department, and Andrew Shennan, provost and dean of the College, this exhibition includes objects and documents from the Davis, Archives, and Special Collections, as well as loans from the alumnae community. It examines art and life in College Hall from the founding of the College in 1870, to the great fire that decimated the building and its contents in 1914, to the fundraising and rebuilding efforts that followed. The exhibition focuses particular attention on Anne Whitney’s legendary 1883 statue of sociologist Harriet Martineau (Gift of Mrs. Wilson Payne (Elizabeth Rogers ’26)), a sculpture with a surprising role in the life of College Hall and a fascinating history.
Lawrence and Ina Lee Brown Ramer Gallery
For Nummer veertien, home, van der Werve completed a 1,000-mile triathlon from Warsaw to Paris, retracing the path along which Chopin’s heart traveled. The filmic journey is accompanied by the artist’s lush score and explores themes common to his work: physical endurance, man’s struggle with nature, the crossover between history and geography, melancholy, and the solitary.
This exhibition is generously supported by Wellesley College Friends of Art, Wellesley College Archives, and the Office of the Provost and Dean of the College.
Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection
Curated by Michael Maizels, Andrew W. Mellon New Media Curator/Lecturer, and generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant for New Media Art.
On View June 9–July 20, 2014 Marjorie and Gerald Bronfman Gallery / Camilla Chandler and Dorothy Buffum Chandler Gallery
See page 18 for details.
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